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Main clause:Spring is the seasonAdjectival clause describing season:when flowers will bloom

Alternative version: Spring is (a time) when flowers will bloom.

Consider now,

Ex: Saturday is (the day) when I will have to fix the faucet.

What do you think?

Very interesting.

Saturday is when I will have to fix the car. -- adverbial or relative
Saturday is the time when I will have to fix the car -- relative clause
So what clause is the wh-clause only comes down to whether we assume 'the time' has been deleted by ellipsis.

Main clause:Spring is the seasonAdjectival clause describing season:when flowers will bloom

Alternative version: Spring is (a time) when flowers will bloom.

Consider now,

Ex: Saturday is (the day) when I will have to fix the faucet.

What do you think?

I agree. "When clause" is an adjective clause because it is not used to modify a verb, as most adverbs do. "WHEN clause" is used to modify a noun which in this case is omitted. The key here comes back to what it modifies. Adjectives are used to modify nouns, but adverbs are used to modify verbs.

Re: adverb or noun clause?

Originally Posted by svartnik

Very interesting.

Saturday is when I will have to fix the car. -- adverbial or relative
Saturday is the time when I will have to fix the car -- relative clause
So what clause is the wh-clause only comes down to whether we assume 'the time' has been deleted by ellipsis.

There's more to the apparent riddle. Here's more food for thought.

Adverbs can modify nouns to indicate time or place:

Ex: The concert tomorrow is sold out. <When?>
Ex: Look at the people there. <Where?>

tomorrow and there modify the nouns concert and people.

Now consider,

Ex: The concert that we'll be going to tomorrow is sold out. <When?>
Ex: Look at the people who are sitting over there. <Where?>